therapeutic
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
-
of or relating to the treatment of disease; curative
-
serving or performed to maintain health
therapeutic abortion
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of therapeutic
1535–45; < New Latin therapeuticus < Greek therapeutikós, equivalent to therapeú ( ein ) to attend, treat medically (akin to therápōn attendant) + -tikos -tic
Explanation
Whether you’re talking about a therapeutic drug or a therapeutic exercise plan, something that is therapeutic helps to heal or to restore health. The adjective therapeutic can be traced all the way back to the Greek word therapeutikos (from therapeuein, meaning “to attend” or “to treat”). Although the word relates to healing or soothing, therapeutic isn’t reserved only for drugs or medical treatments. You’ve probably heard particular activities referred to as therapeutic, which just means that doing that activity makes you feel rejuvenated. You might consider shopping for shoes, for example, to be a therapeutic activity — at least until the credit card bill arrives.
Vocabulary lists containing therapeutic
This Week in Words: March 3 – 9, 2018
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Vocabulary from Academy Award Nominees and Winners
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Diet holds great promise for controlling the microbiome and its outputs. But to devise effective therapeutic interventions, we need to understand what aspects of the diet control which microbial outputs."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
"Unlike gene re-expression strategies, SLC6A20 inhibition works by modulating endogenous signaling pathways and may offer a more practical therapeutic route," said Director Eunjoon Kim.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
That could have made playing a highly reactive character like Carol therapeutic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Posing painful questions to ourselves about our own traumas and struggles can be therapeutic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Even therapeutic measures have the important result not only of curing the patient but of reducing the foci of infection.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
